Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  When I look at what the federal Auditor General's office has said in the past in terms of things like their strategic outcome, it's to have well-managed and accountable government for Canadians by helping to keep Parliament well informed and engaged. I think that is a fundamentally sound summary of the vision for the office.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  I guess, again, I'd have to know the situation better to give you a full response. Certainly, the role of the Auditor General, as I understand it, is to present reports, make recommendations, and bring those recommendations forward. Then, as I understand it also, the Auditor General's office does do some work in terms of following up on some of those recommendations, to see whether government has implemented them.

Public Accounts committee  Fundamentally, the roles are very similar. In fact, when I look at the legislation for the Auditor General of Canada versus that for New Brunswick, they're very similar. The scope is very similar—financial audits, performance audits, compliance audits, and special reviews. The main difference is that the federal Auditor General has the sustainable development mandate in terms of the environment.

Public Accounts committee  I certainly don't know the context of that quote. I would have to know. I don't remember making those statements. I'm not saying—I don't remember making those statements. I would have to see where that was quoted from to be able to make a comment on that.

Public Accounts committee  As I said earlier, I think the audit process is a rigorous process. It's a process that is designed around identifying what areas the audit team should be looking at, perhaps doing some scoping work at first to figure out whether it looks like that area really is one where there could be some significant or useful findings, and then going through the process to identify what improvements need to be made in the particular area.

Public Accounts committee  Again, Mr. Chair, there's not much I can say on that. We'll have to wait and see what the vote is.

Public Accounts committee  The office of the Auditor General will have the capacity to make sure that every person in the office can continue to work in their language of choice. I will be absolutely committed to making sure that every person can continue to work in their language of choice; I fully respect that as a right for people.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, the first thing we will have to determine is which language each and every senior level person selects to work in. For anyone who selects French, we will make sure that there are mechanisms in place to fully protect that right. That will be absolutely protected.

Public Accounts committee  I always had a good working relationship with the public accounts committee in New Brunswick. I tended to release my reports to a combined meeting of the public accounts committee and the crown corporations committee. I always had a good working relationship with those committees.

Public Accounts committee  I have personally been involved in work with Tanzania, in Africa, through the federal Auditor General's office, whereby we went over and did an assessment of the Tanzanian National Audit Office and its capabilities, particularly in such things as performance audits. We went through a rigorous analysis of their methodology, their outcomes, and the reports they produce and were able to provide them, I think, with a lot of good information.

Public Accounts committee  I really don't have any comment, Mr. Chair.

Public Accounts committee  I really don't have any comment, Mr. Chair.

Public Accounts committee  I believe that the Auditor General of Canada has very much established a leadership position over the last number of years under Ms. Fraser's leadership in terms of its reputation across the world for excellence in performance audits and excellence in financial audits. I think Canada also has a reputation for having very excellent accounting standards for governments, as established by the Public Sector Accounting Board.